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Recent Acquisition: The Wilson Globes, ca. 1811

Recent Acquisition: The Wilson Globes, ca. 1811

by | Jul 9, 2019 | Acquisitions, Featured, Maps

That look of surprise and joy on a map curator’s face can only mean one thing: something fine has just landed in his division. And what better acquisition for the Clements Library than a pair–and not just any pair–of Wilson globes. And what, we hear you ask, are...
Recent Acquisition: A U.S. Government Official’s Description of a Mixed-Race Lead Actress on the Baltimore Stage, 1796

Recent Acquisition: A U.S. Government Official’s Description of a Mixed-Race Lead Actress on the Baltimore Stage, 1796

by | Feb 21, 2019 | Acquisitions, Featured, Manuscripts

Research projects can begin in a variety of different ways. On one end of the spectrum, a query about some aspect of the past may prompt the scholar to seek out and identify relevant primary sources that help answer their question. On the opposite end, a scholar may...
Keep Your Powder Dry — And Your Map Too

Keep Your Powder Dry — And Your Map Too

by | Mar 29, 2018 | Acquisitions, Featured, Maps

The Clements Library map collection comprises some 30,000 examples of cartography with American subject matter drawn or printed between the years 1492 and 1900. This body of material represents a variety of plans and maps ranging from the most detailed small-scale...

Clements Library Acquires Previously Unknown Plan of 1790 Detroit

by | Sep 28, 2016 | Acquisitions, Maps

It seems as if the Director and curators of the Clements Library are always searching—searching for new documentation to make accessible to scholars; searching for collections or parts of collections that they know or hope are still “out there” in the hands of...

Recent Acquisition: Rare Early Work by Native American Author

by | Sep 30, 2015 | Acquisitions, Books

Post by Emiko Hastings, Curator of BooksThe Book Division is pleased to announce a significant new acquisition, Diego de Valadés’ Rhetorica Christiana (1579).  This purchase, courtesy of Liber Antiquus, Early Books & Manuscripts, fills an important gap...

Palm Trees, Sugar, Slavery, and More

by | Sep 28, 2015 | Acquisitions, Books, Graphics, Manuscripts, Maps

Post by Brian L. Dunnigan, Associate Director and Curator of MapsThe Clements Library is known to historians and scholars of other disciplines as a primary source repository of “Americana” dating between 1492 and 1900. For all too many members of the history and the...

Recent Acquisition: Rare 151st plate from Audubon’s Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America

by | Apr 1, 2015 | Acquisitions, Books, Holidays

Rare 151st plate from Audubon’s Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America. Detail of Plate CXXIX.Post by Aprille Phule, Curator of Cryptozoological Collections and BibliochicaneryThe University of Michigan Library marks its formal beginning with the purchase in 1839 of...

Recent Acquisition: Fantastical Militias

by | Oct 27, 2014 | Acquisitions, Graphics

Post by Clayton Lewis, Curator of Graphic MaterialsDavid Claypoole Johnston. Col. Pluck. [Boston?] : Pendleton, lithographer/publisher, circa 1825.A pair of recently acquired prints point to a little known episode in American military history and pose questions about...